Leveling the Playing Field for Small Business

by Maria S. Salinas

Success in entrepreneurship is at the cornerstone of the Chamber’s work, which is why we advocate for a level playing field in access to capital and new business opportunities for our local, small, and diverse businesses. Ensuring that success is the most sure-fire path to prosperity for our communities and economy. Few regions know that better than Los Angeles, where we have the highest concentration of woman and diverse owned businesses in the nation. In a region as large as ours, we understand the tangible reality of an equal distribution of ability with an unequal distribution of opportunity.

This is why the Chamber piloted OneLA, a program focused on inclusive procurement, with the support of Citi, L.A. County, and several other public and private partners. These partners understand that innovative public-private partnerships like OneLA Inclusive Procurement, help promote equity in our small business community while growing our economy. It gives me great hope when business and government collaborate to bring about an equitable landscape for small businesses, especially when those collaborations deliver real results.

OneLA is evidence of the strength of our diversity in Los Angeles. It provides small, woman owned, minority owned, and underrepresented businesses one-on-one advising, in-depth training, matchmaking, and access to  opportunities in contracting.This commitment to small, diverse businesses to access contract opportunities has resulted in over $10,000,000 in awards to local, small, diverse businesses. These businesses are now competing in the Los Angeles business community and contributing to our economy.

In a post-pandemic world, growing opportunities for underrepresented small businesses is good for the economy and ensures that our families can thrive. OneLA is a proven formula that public private partnerships in procurement level the playing field.

Learn more about OneLA.